


Pride and Prejudice

by essentialessex



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Amanda is Elizabeth, Because he has that really cute innocent vibe, Bingley as a female Betazoid, Comedy, Crack Crossover, Crack Jane Austen, Cute romance, F/F, F/M, Jane Austen - Freeform, Jane is kinda Les, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Sarek is Mr. Darcy, TOS, The sisters aren't related, Vulcan, Vulcan Bond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24565654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/essentialessex/pseuds/essentialessex
Summary: A classic romance with a twist!When the Betazoid embassy moves into the Bay Area, all the local students dream of the opportunity to secure a career boosting internship as the new Junior Terran Laison! However with the Betazoid ambassador comes a very grouchy looking Vulcan, none other than the newly appointed Vulcan ambassador.How do Amanda and Sarek end up together in this strange origin story?
Relationships: Amanda Grayson/Sarek
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14





	Pride and Prejudice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reread Pride and Prejudice a few weeks ago and couldn't get this idea out of my head. I felt like Sarek fit right into the role of aloof, reserved Mr. Darcy, and that Amanda could very well be the sharp, quick-witted Miss Bennet! Hopefully you all enjoy this first chapter!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a new organization in possession of ample funding and a good board, must be in want of an good intern.

However little known of the hiring criteria or desired work experience of such a company may be on its first entering a community, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding universities, that this internship is considered the rightful property of some one or the other of their students.

"Dr. Bennet," said his co-director to him one day, "have you heard the Presidio Building is finally being leased?"

Dr. Bennet replied that he had not.

"But it is," returned she, "Dr. Lin was just there, and she told me all about it."

Dr. Bennet made no answer.

"Don't you want to know who's leasing it?" cried his friend impatiently.

" _You_ want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."

This was invitation enough.

"Well, you should know, Dr. Lin says that the Presidio Building is being leased by a planetary embassy; that the embassy has been using limousines to see the place, and they were so happy with it, that they agreed with Lucasfilms immediately; that they are going to take over before the end of September, and some of their employees are going to be working there by the end of the week."

"Which planet's embassy?"

"Betazed."

"Do they have an internship program?"

"Yes, they certainly do! A planetary embassy internship, what great opportunity for our students!"

"Why? How could it possibly affect them?"

"Oh, Harold," replied Dr. Gardiner, exasperated, "couldn't it be any more obvious? Clearly one of our students could land an internship and maybe even be hired as a new grad!"

"Are they actively recruiting on campus?"

"Actively recruiting? Where do you get this kind of nonsense? Anyway, one of our students might make a good impression, so you obviously need to go to the next talk they host there to make yourself visible."

"I'm not sure I follow. Why can't you go with some of our grad students? I think you might make the best impression out of all of them."

"Thanks, I'm sure I would make a good impression, but I've been in this profession a while now, and I'm more concerned with getting our students placed in good positions than trying to convince people of the merits of my old research."

"Usually I would expect that coming from someone who hasn't had any interesting research published."

"Seriously though, will you go to that talk on Friday evening?"

"That sounds like a big ask."

"Please consider the good of our department. If one of them gets an internship and does well, it reflects well on all of us. Dr. Trolox is going, just because his team normally attends these kind of events. If you don't visit as head of department, it will be awkward for me and the rest of the department to visit."

"You've got to be over-thinking this. I think they'll be very happy to see you there, especially if I send an email welcoming any joint research efforts with the department. I'll be sure to throw in a good word about Amanda."

"You can't do that. Amanda is a good student, but I can't say she's any better than the other research assistants. She hasn't done as much research as Jane, and certainly isn't as outgoing as Lydia. I know she's your only research assistant, but you're constantly showing your favoritism for her."

"None of our research assistants are genii," he replied, "but Amanda's work _is_ more thorough and well thought through than the rest."

"Oh Dr. Bennet, how can you be so mean about your own students? I know you love annoying me. You're constantly getting on my nerves."

"I have a high respect for your nerves, I'll have you know. I've heard you mention them at least once a day for the last twenty years."

"You're incorrigible."

"I hope you'll get over that, and that we'll see several respectable embassies move into the Bay Area."

"It won't matter if even ten or twenty move in, if you don't go and network."

"If there end up being twenty embassies based out of the Bay Area, I'll visit each and every one of them."

Dr. Bennet was a laid back researcher, with a quiet, sarcastic, and somewhat chaotic personality, and a tendency towards philosophical discussion and introversion, and not even 23 years of co-authoring papers with him had helped Dr. Gardiner understand his character. She was much less complicated. She was quick-witted and outgoing, but with little common sense beyond her interests, and a capricious temper. She was solely driven by career goals and interests, and while her research, especially as a grad and post-grad, had been ground-breaking, now her life was consumed with placing her students in good careers to bolster the image of the department. She was discerning when accepting students into her program, but once there, very few left without interesting research, a good internship or job, and a glowing letter of recommendation. The business of her life was her department's image, and it's solace was networking and news.

\----

Dr. Bennet did end up going to the talk, and had always intended on going to the talk even though he told Dr. Gardiner that he refused to go well into Friday afternoon. He made a hasty getaway from the UC Berkeley campus, citing a catch up with a friend in passing to any who asked where he was going, and so his co-director had no idea he went until the research meeting they had with their students the next Tuesday. After Amanda presented her latest finding to the group, he let them know of his new acquaintance in the following way:

"I hope that catches the eye of someone at the Betazed embassy, Amanda."

As Amanda pursed her lips and blushed and cleared off her PADD on the lectern so that Dr. Gardiner could take her place, Dr. Gardiner responded sharply, "Well we have no idea what would catch the Betazed embassy's eye as we haven't met anyone from it."

 _This can't be good._ Amanda thought briefly. 

"Well we will be able to meet some people in conferences over the next few weeks," Amanda offered a vexed Dr. Gardiner, "and Dr. Lin from Xenobiology said that she would introduce them to our department."

"I think that Dr. Lin might be very busy over the next few months given her two PhD candidates will be completing their dissertations this school year. I highly doubt she'll make time for anyone in our department, when she needs to figure out how her grad students get placed, and whether she'll take on any more." Dr. Gardiner responded rather sharply, making the students, with the exception of Lydia, cringe.

"Well I guess we're lucky we aren't depending on Dr. Lin for an introduction then." Dr. Bennet replied nonchalantly.

Dr. Bennet watched his co-director glance sharply at him, before snapping at one of her master's students when her PADD dinged. "If you're expecting a call, please don't let it interrupt our session."

Kitty swallowed carefully, and Dr. Bennet replied, "Ms. Garcia can't exactly control when someone texts her. She just forgot to mute her PADD."

"I'm sorry, I'll do better at silencing my PADD in the future," Kitty replied fretfully, "When's your next conference, Amanda?"

"In about two weeks."

"Yes, and Dr. Lin won't from her trip to Andor until the night before, so she won't be able to make any introductions, because she hasn't even met anyone from the embassy yet." The students rippled with confusion at the lack of context.

"Then, you might have the advantage of introducing the ambassador to her, Dr. Gardiner." Dr. Bennet said casually, fiddling with his PADD.

"How could I possibly introduce the ambassador to the head of the Xenobiology department? Is this some sort of joke?"

"Two weeks isn't very much time, I'll give you that, but either we will introduce them, or someone else will. Dr. Lin will be happy to be introduced, and it would be a connection for her research program. So if you don't introduce the Betazoid ambassador, I will." Dr. Bennet said, finally looking boredly in Dr. Gardiner's direction.

She gave him a look of incredulity, and cried, "Bullshit!" Their students waited with baited breath for Dr. Bennet to continue.

"Dr. Gardiner!" Dr. Bennet exclaimed affectedly, with a glimmer of mirth in his eyes, "there's no need for such crass language in an academic setting. Do you really think that introducing the head of the Xenobiology department to a planetary ambassador is unwarranted? What do you think Ms. Coleson, you study psychology, what is your opinion?"

Mary open and closed her mouth, but nothing came out, because there was nothing sensible to say. The other students, relaxed a little, knowing that they had dodged cross hairs this time.

"While Mary formulates her analysis, let's return to the matter of the ambassador." Dr. Bennet continued, turning off his PADD and leaning in, the gleam in his eye much brighter now, and his lips quirked up.

"You know what, I'm done with the Betazoid embassy." Dr. Gardiner huffed.

"Oh, well, I'm very sorry to hear that. I wish I had known before going to the embassy Friday night, which is unfortunate, because the ambassador and I had a great discussion. They even wanted to visit us later this week and meet you all."

The astonishment and excitement sizzling in the room at his words was exactly what he wanted to see, especially in Dr. Gardiner. When the news had settled in, Dr. Gardiner began to say she knew that he would do this all along.

"That's fantastic Harold! Obviously I knew you would cave to my suggestion. That was very funny, disappearing so suddenly over the weekend and not saying anything about it until right now."

"I think you can unmute your PADD now, Ms. Garcia." Dr. Bennet remarked softly, gently controlling his mirth as he packed away his stuff before heading off to his lecture. Kitty smiled at his wink, feeling a little more at ease now that Dr. Gardiner's mood was better.

"You are all very lucky, you know. You're going to have an opportunity to meet a planetary ambassador. Lydia, given your most recent research, I think he might ask you to even do some research for the embassy."

"Oh!" Lydia exclaimed, gleaming, "I know I'm the newest here, but my research _is_ the most closely related."

The rest of the research meeting was spent relatively unproductively, talking about when the ambassador would come, and how to ask the ambassador about joint research initiatives.

\----

No query from anyone in the Xenoliguisics department to Dr. Bennet was sufficient to establish any satisfactory description of the ambassador, and searching the internet for clues yielded little hard evidence regarding the Betazoid, except that she was in fact a woman and relatively young for a government figure, and that she held a doctorate in Logical Philosophy from the Vulcan Science Academy. As such, all her research was so complex as to be unreadable, and thus no personal opinion could be gleaned from the various papers the students got their hands on regardless of how ferociously they analyzed it. Dr. Trolox's TA for his introductory interplanetary political science class, had been to the event on Friday night, and he gave a glowing review of the ambassador. She was apparently kind, outgoing, and very inquisitive, best of all, there was an opening on her team for a Terran laison, something any graduate student from the university could fill.

It just so happened that the Betazoid ambassador, Arlexa Bing, came to visit that Friday morning, when most of the department was in class, and spent most of that time in Dr. Bennet's office. She had come, hoping to meet some of the department she had heard so much about, especially those working on the Syntactical Matrix Generator Project, or the SMGP for short. The students' luck was better as Lydia caught the sight of the blonde Betazoid from the courtyard below and immediately pulled out her PADD, taking a video to post in the group chat.

A more formal invitation to the Ambassador of Betazed was contrived, inviting her to the next research meeting on Tuesday to give her a better overview of the project and to meet the researchers. Dr. Gardiner had already planned who would present what and who would sit where to make the research group look most interesting and the department to be portrayed in the best light. However, the Ambassador was obliged to retrieve some her newly appointed staff and attend in a conference on Vulcan and as such was her absence was entirely excused. When they finally arrived at the conference a week later, the party consisted of Ambassador Bing, a junior ambassador Talla Vrixx, two other Betazoid staff, and a Vulcan.

Ambassador Bing was well mannered and conversational to all those that struck up conversations with her, and her aides were polite and pleasant. The Vulcan, on the other hand, was tall, imperious, and very astute, asking questions directly and sharply, and was generally quite knowledgeable. When it was discovered that he was the newly appointed ambassador to Earth from Vulcan, several researchers flocked to attend him, but his laconic, annoyed countenance drove off even the most dedicated of this new entourage, and the initially interested opinion ossified into a sour one. Even all his alleged connections at the VSA could not save him from being deemed as too awkward and unsociable to deal with.

Ambassador Bing was soon acquainted with all the main players of the conference; she was lively and unreserved, held a conversation at every break, was upset that the conference was so short, and had suggested that she might hold some sort of similar event at the embassy when it was fully renovated. Such amiability stood in striking contrast with her Vulcan colleague's behavior, who barely talked to anyone outside his own party, and showed such revulsion at the prospect of shaking a researcher's hand that all the humans in attendance, even those familiar with Vulcan custom, questioned why such a man would be made ambassador. This dislike was particularly sharpened in Dr. Gardiner by what she heard happened to one of her students.

Amanda was taking a break and was picking up some fruit and coffee at the buffet table when she overheard a conversation between the ambassadors.

"Oh, Sarek, can't you try to engage in some conversation? You seem so awkward mulling about in the corner." Ambassador Bing commented, trying to press her friend into talking to the other researchers.

"I am not well versed in the conference's goal nor am I acquainted with anyone else in attendance, and therefore it would be illogical for me to partake in conversation."

"Oh please, have an open mind. Isn't there anything you are curious about? Several of those in attendance are doing work at the cutting edge of their fields, and everyone I have spoken too has been quite friendly." Ambassador Bing responded, smiling softly.

"I have only seen one person with research interesting enough to enter a conversation, and she is currently engaged. You have already spoken to her twice in my presence and so it would be illogical for me to seek out her company explicitly as I expect you will return for a third conversation." Ambassador Sarek replied, devoid of any pleasant expression.

"Well one of her fellow researchers is right here. I'm sure you could talk to her about her research."

"Where?" Sarek asked looking mildly interested, turning to face Amanda, before his expression walled off in mild distaste. "I have read part of one of her papers and it was so poorly written I didn't finish it. I do not think any conversation I would have with her would be in any way useful. I do require refreshment however, and I think the student you were speaking to before is now available again to converse."

Amanda's cheeks burned with shame, and she had to blink angry tears from her eyes. Her appetite gone, she threw away her food and made a b-line for the nearest restroom so that she could compose herself. Breathing in front of the mirror, she willed away here tears with much effort and returned to her booth, where she decided to get her own petty sort of revenge by detailing exactly what she had heard to all her friends and colleagues.

The rest of the conference passed by relatively well, with several new connections and commitments made and more funding secured for the SMGP. Jane, Dr. Gardiner's post-doc, was lavished in much attention by the Betazoid party, and as such Dr. Gardiner was very pleased. Jane, in her own sweet way, was pleased too for the interest in her topic in general, and Amanda was pleased for her. Mary's research was referenced by one of the keynote speakers, and Kitty and Lydia were asked several questions about the SMGP and their role in it.

During the meeting that next Tuesday, Dr. Bennet was curious to find out how the conference went, and was barraged by a detailed explanation of what had happened. He responded with dark sarcasm only to be brushed off by Dr. Gardiner's fanciful description of Ambassador Bing. They went back and forth for a little bit before Dr. Gardiner stated with great bitterness, "So poorly written as to be unreadable. Who does he think he is, so rudely criticizing Amanda like that? He wouldn't know what was well written if it tried to shake his hand!"

"But Amanda is much better off not working with him, because he is a stiff, emotionless Vulcan with no redeeming qualities. I wish you had gone Harold, and set him in his place for talking about one of our students like that. What a total jerk!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha Sarek is hella mean and awkward. I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter! I'm not going to write this convolutedly for the rest of the story, but I've always loved the first three chapters of this book. I know Dr. Gardiner comes off as a little weird and neurotic especially for an 'esteemed researcher' but I love Mrs. Bennet's character too much to white-wash it. I struggled a little bit with mimicking the career-craze in this story as opposed to the marriage-craze in the original, and all the networking is based off of my own experience.
> 
> Anyway, I love this book so much, and I hope you do too!
> 
> "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
> 
> However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters."  
> \- Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 1
> 
> "“You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room,” said Mr. Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.
> 
> “Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you.”
> 
> “Which do you mean?” and turning round he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said: “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”
> 
> Mr. Bingley followed his advice. Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings toward him. She told the story, however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous."  
> \- Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 3


End file.
